


First Impressions Aren't Always What They Seem

by the_genderman



Series: Fourth Pass Pern/MCU Crossover [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Impression (Dragonriders of Pern)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 20:39:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11699493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/pseuds/the_genderman
Summary: More Dragonriders of Pern/Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover.Short fluffy piece about Impression. Steeven is having doubts about being able to Impress because he's always been smaller than the other boys.





	First Impressions Aren't Always What They Seem

**Author's Note:**

> AU Fourth Pass. Pern'ified names: Steeven|St'ven = Steve (somewhat obvious); Buccan|B'can = Bucky (which was a bit trickier to come up with, but it works well enough).
> 
> The closest I could come up with for a Pernese version of the affectionate use of "punk" was "silly wherry." *shrug*

Steeven stopped abruptly in the narrow hallway leading toward the Candidates’ entrance to the Hatching Grounds, causing Buccan to have to pull up short to avoid walking into him. He tugged anxiously at the white tunic, sleeveless and beltless, the mark of a Candidate for Impression. The other boys filed past them, some sending glances their way, wondering what could possibly make a Candidate _not_ want to get on the sands as soon as humanly possible. The dragons’ welcoming hum was growing louder the nearer the eggs came to hatching.

“What if the other boys are right? What if I am too small to be a dragonrider?” Steeven asked as soon as he was alone with Buccan in the hallway.

“No, do _not_ start with this again,” Buccan said, taking his friend by the shoulders and gently steering him onto the sands. “You’ll be fine, and the eggs aren’t going to wait for us if we spend all day out here.”

“What if I waited too long to start trying?” Steeven asked, wincing as he felt the heat of the sands through his shoes. “Boys can be put forward as Candidates as early as fourteen and I’m sixteen now.”

“And I’m a turn older than you,” Buccan continued, “so if you’re too old, then I am too.”

“Yeah, but you chose to wait,” Steeven frowned, stopping in his tracks again. “And you said they like older Candidates for the greens, anyway.”

“Who said I’m gonna Impress green?” Buccan grinned.

“You did, yourself, just yesterday!”

“I was making a joke, you silly wherry. I know I’m a greenrider or nothing. Just you watch, you’ll show ‘em up by Impressing a bronze.”

“As big as a bronze gets, you really think—” Steeven began.

“Look!” Buccan cut him off, pointing excitedly, his voice an awed whisper. “The queen egg is rocking already! I know they say it’s lucky if the first hatchling is bronze, but just imagine if the queen egg hatches first…”

Steeven and Buccan parted to take their places in the loose half-circle of nervous Candidates. Buccan joined a cluster of older boys, apparently prospective greenriders. Steeven squeezed his way into about the middle of the arc and stared wide-eyed at the eggs. The queen egg was apart from the rest of the clutch and beginning to crack. Margath was watching it possessively while the six young women hoping to Impress the golden dragon slowly making her way out of the shell tried not to look scared of her. Dragons were very gentle towards humans, but a gold dragon on the hatching sands could be quite intimidating in her protectiveness towards her eggs.

The dragons’ hum grew louder as more eggs began to rock and crack. Steeven had watched Hatchings before, but from the guest seating, far removed from the hot sands. The nervous excitement of actually being down here, right next to the eggs, which were considerably larger up close, was something else entirely. He swallowed and watched the scene unfolding around the queen egg to try to calm his own fears. He felt a little bit grateful that, unlike the six women waiting, he’d have the chance to Impress any of the hatchlings from the other twenty-eight eggs. Bronze would be amazing, but he’d be happy with any color. Maybe a blue, the smallest of the male dragons, kind of like himself. (And a nice compliment to the green Buccan was hoping to Impress, but Steeven didn’t want to get his hopes up too far.)

The queen egg finally broke open, the golden dragonet flopping awkwardly to the sands, feeling out her Candidates, but Steeven’s attention was turned back to the eggs in front of him. Two shells had cracked simultaneously, a brown and a blue blinking against the light and scanning the boys and young men for the right partners. The blue looked around questioningly, then, suddenly focused, wobbled over to a boy from Keogh Hold. “His name is Veleth!” the boy announced, his voice resonant with the love of a rider for his dragon.

Steeven swallowed and looked away, glancing over towards Buccan. Three little green hatchlings were slowly eyeing the young men, reaching out tentatively, testing the mental connections. He saw Buccan—B’can now—kneel down and reach out his hands towards a moss-green dragonet who stumbled forward and rubbed her head against his arm, her first eyelid closing and happy swirls of blue appearing in her hunger-orange eyes. He watched as B’can got back to his feet and led Barnath away to the tables where the meat for the hatchlings was being kept. 

As he watched, Steeven felt someone bump roughly into his leg. He turned to see who had knocked into him and looked into the jeweled eyes of a bronze dragonet who was trying to get his attention. _I’m hungry_ , the little bronze was saying.

“Of course, I’m sorry. It must have taken a lot to get out of that egg, didn’t it?” St’ven said, scratching the bronze’s eyeridge. “We’ll get you fed right up. You can eat as much as you want, and then you can sleep as much as you want. I’m St’ven, what’s your name?”

 _It is nice to meet you, St’ven. My name is Rojeth_ , Rojeth said.

“Rojeth. That’s a very nice name.”

\------------------------------------

“You still think you’re too small for a bronze? You’ve grown almost as fast as he has,” B’can ribbed St’ven as the Weyrlings returned to their dormitory. At almost a year old, the young dragons had reached nearly full adult size. St’ven had finally hit his own growth spurt too, putting on nearly a foot in height and his shoulders and chest broadening out considerably.

“Yeah, I actually look the part of a bronzerider now, don’t I?” St’ven replied. “Rojeth knew what he was doing when he picked me.”

“So, what you’re saying is that your Impression was about more than just first impressions?” B’can joked, unable to contain his own laughter.

St’ven groaned at the pun and gave B’can a friendly shove to the arm. “Your jokes are just as bad as they’ve always been. How’s that for a first impression?”

“Yeah, but they make you laugh, all the same, so I’ll take it.”


End file.
